Westview coach Lindsay Strothers began singing the national anthem as an assistant coach for St. Mary's Academy in the 1980s. (Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian)

Lindsay Strothers remembers how opposing teams were startled when he first started singing the national anthem as an assistant coach for the St. Mary’s Academy girls basketball team in 1980s.

“It gave us kind of an advantage,” said Strothers, who has been singing the anthem at Westview girls games since becoming the team’s coach last season. “They would turn around and look at me and they were like, ‘wow.’ After a couple of minutes, we had a 10-point lead, and there was no looking back.”

Strothers, who took over as the head coach at St. Mary’s and led the team to state titles in 1985 and 1986, has sang the anthem at home games throughout a coaching career that has included college assistant jobs at USC and Cal State Northridge, a head coaching position at NCAA Division II Chapman (Calif.) University and a return to high school at Oak Park (Calif.) in 1997.

It all started, though, when he assisted former St. Mary’s coach Michael Abraham from 1980 to 1984.

“He said, ‘Hey, we need somebody to take over the national anthem,’” Strothers said. “I said, ‘Oh no, it’s too hard to sing. I can’t do that.’ He said, ‘You need to learn how to do it because it’s boring the way we do it.’ So I said, ‘OK, I’ll figure something out,’ and it’s kind of just turned into what it is now. I pretty much sing it the same way every time.”

Strothers sang the anthem at two NBA home games in the 1980s, one for the Blazers and one for the Lakers. He auditioned for the X Factor television show last year and made it to the second round but did not appear on TV.

He started singing at Westview home games last season after earning the blessing of then-athletic director Mike Sanderson.

“In the very beginning, Mike didn’t know that I sang, so he had lined up a couple of kids from the choir,” Strothers said. “But once I did it, he said, ‘Oh no, we’re not having anyone else. You’re doing it.’”